Freaks and Jelly Beans
by AdriDark
Summary: The obligatory sisfic. An adorable oneshot where Dean tries to convince his little sis she's not a freak. Actually, it's a few oneshots that all stand alone.
1. Chapter 1

As soon as I entered the house I shared with my dad and brother, I let my tough exterior crumble and I burst into tears

As soon as I entered the house I shared with my dad and brother, I let my tough exterior crumble and I burst into tears. I could hear the clatter coming from the kitchen immediately cease as my older brother, Dean, appeared in the living room.

"Annabelle, what's wrong?"

His eyes showed true concern but I was in no mood to talk. Not meeting his inquisitive gaze, I made a beeline for my bedroom.

My room's walls were still pink from the tenants before us and my father had never had time to paint over it. As my own way of covering up the putrid color, I had put up movie posters, which now covered almost every inch of the walls. Though we'd only lived her a month – and probably wouldn't stay much longer – I loved this place. It was my refuge. Sitting on my bed, I pulled my knees in to my chest and rested my chin on them. My tears had finally stopped but my spirits had not yet lifted.

A knock came at my door a few moments later. At first, I entertained the idea of ignoring it but finally, I sighed. Dean meant well. "Come in."

Dean entered, carrying a plastic bowl from the kitchen. He closed the door behind him and sat on the edge of the bed, offering me the contents of the bowl.

I frowned. "Jelly beans?"

"Yeah, I even picked the green ones out, just the way you like it." He beamed, obviously proud that he had remembered that detail.

"I haven't eaten jelly beans since I was seven." I raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't you remember? I ate a whole bag and wound up blowing chunks everywhere."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, I remember. Dad was so pissed at me and Sam for letting you eat that much sugary crap." He made a face at me and then the bowl between us. "Have you seriously not eaten a jelly bean since then?"

I shook my head. "I was traumatized!"

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong or am I going to have to force feed you jelly beans 'til you finally tell me?" I grimaced as he popped a red jelly bean in his mouth.

Sighing, I reached for a tissue on my nightstand and scrubbed at my tearstained face. I didn't particularly feel like having this discussion with my big brother but I didn't doubt that his threat was for real. Finally, staring at my hands to avoid his eyes, I muttered, "I don't have boobs and I kiss like a fish."

There was a moment of silence as Dean tried to process this. "Come again?"

I looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Are you seriously going to make me repeat that?"

He held up a hand in apology and scooted closer to me, placing the bowl of candy on the floor beside my bed. "Now, where did you get this notion that you don't have boobs and kiss like a fish?"

I couldn't help but wince when he repeated it. Pushing a lock of blonde hair behind my ear, I fought fresh tears that were threatening to run down my cheeks. "Adam Reynolds."

"Well, then you tell Adam that he has a tiny p-"

"Dean!" My tears disappeared as I looked up at him in outrage.

He grinned sheepishly until, under my glare, it faded to a serious expression. "Sorry, protective older brother syndrome may cause stupidity."

That actually got a laugh out of me. "You're such a dork sometimes."

"Hey, no picking on me." He bumped into me with his shoulder and offered a mocking smile. "Now, continue with your story."

I sighed, knowing that he wouldn't like the rest of the story. "If I tell you, will you promise not to get mad?" Giving him my best puppy eyes I could muster, I leaned into him.

Dean thought about it for a minute. "You didn't sell drugs, did you?"

"No…"

"Beat a homeless man to death?"

"Um, no."

"Listen to a crappy boy band?"

My face split into a smile. "Hell no."

Dean gave me a high five. "That's my girl. So, if you have done none of those things, I promise not to get mad."

I chewed on my lip for a moment, still unsure. "So, I was at Tara Kingston's birthday party and -" I paused. "Have you ever played seven minutes in heaven?"

Dean seemed to swallow down his initial reaction to my question. "Possibly. Why?"

I could feel the pesky tears returning, prickling the back of my eyeballs. "Well, Tara suggested we play it. I didn't know what it was and when I asked, she suggested I go in the closet first so I could learn, firsthand."

A groan erupted from Dean but he said nothing.

"I was in there for a few seconds when Adam showed up." I wrinkled my nose. "I've had a crush on him and all but he came on really strong, ya know."

Dean clenched his jaw but again said nothing.

My throat was tightening as I tried to choke out the remainder of the story. "I was so confused so I – I slapped him."

I couldn't tell but I could've sworn relief passed over Dean's features.

"After that, he started teasing me, telling me that it was all just a joke to embarrass me, anyway." I wrapped my arms around myself at the memory, willing myself not to break into sobs again. "He told me everyone thought I was weird. And that's when he said…well, you know. You don't think I'm a freak, do you, Dean?"

Dean gave me a playful punch on the arm. "You betcha." When he saw the look on my face, he retracted his words. "I'm just messing with ya. Why would you consider yourself a freak?

I pursed my lips, not wanting to say what was on my mind. The last time a member of my family had brought it up, a fight I would never forget had erupted. But the memory of Adam's words burned and I met Dean's eyes that shone with concern. "Dean, most girls my age are dreaming about prom and going gaga over movie stars." I shrugged. "Not being trained in hand-to-hand combat and researching ancient spells. I've never even been on a real date before. I feel like a freak of nature."

"You are _not _a freak of nature. I don't care what this Adam guy says." Dean stroked my hair as my tears finally began to fall. "I'm afraid you took after Sam more than anyone else in this family. We have another little rebel on our hands."

The subject of Sam made my heart sink lower. He, like myself, had craved to be normal and gone so far as to apply to Stanford to escape the crazy life of hunting. I missed him terribly. "Sam thinks we're freaks, too. That's why he left."

Dean turned me to face him, a stern look on his face. "Don't you ever say that, Annabelle! Sam loved you to death and him going to college had nothing to do with getting away from you!" His tone was severe but I could tell his words were said with love and concern.

"Then, why won't he visit?"

Sadness crept into Dean's eyes. "You know that."

I did. Before Sam left for college, he'd had a huge blowout with our father. Dad had told him not to come back, a moment at which I thought my heart would implode. "Not even a call? A birthday card?"

"You know, I think he's just ashamed. And not of us, but the things he said before he left." He brushed a few tears away from my eyes and brushed my hair out of my face. "Annabelle, you're awesome and Dad, Sam, and I will always be here for you." He bent over to pick up the bowl of jelly beans. "Since the jelly beans were a bust, how about we go out for pizza?"

I offered him a small smile. "Alright, but if you order extra garlic again, I'm walking home."


	2. Two Years Later

**The Night My Brother Shot My Boyfriend**

I entered the living room of my family's small apartment in a blaze of justified fury. Kicking off the high heels I'd borrowed from my cousin, I made my way to the kitchen where my dad and Uncle Bobby were eating pizza.

"Bell? What are you doing home so early?" Dad spoke through a mouthful of pepperoni before wiping his face with a crumpled napkin.

I opened my mouth to respond but before I uttered a sound, I heard the door open and close behind me. Within a few moments, Dean was at my side. Turning, I glared daggers at him. "Why don't you ask Rambo over here?"

Dean returned my glare before turning his attention to Dad and Bobby. "She's blowing this whole thing _way _out of proportion.

"Out of proportion? You shot my boyfriend!"

"With rock salt! It didn't leave any lasting damage!"

"Whoa, whoa, wait." Dad tossed his napkin down on his plate and looked up at Dean and me. "Annabelle, when were you going to tell me you had a boyfriend?"

My eyes blazed with outrage and amazement at his question. "You've got to be kidding me! Dean admits to deliberately causing physical harm to a human being and you're giving me the Spanish Inquisition for going out on a date?" I sought back up from Bobby but he just shrugged at me as if to say _What do you want me to do?_

"I am _not _kidding you, Annabelle. You told me this Lukas guy was just a friend and you were going to study." He stood up and did what Sam and I always used to call the 'watch out, dad's gonna blow' stance – his arms folded across his chest, his eyes shadowed with obvious disappointment and frustration. "You lied."

That was the last straw. Yanking out the clip in my hair, I tossed it onto the table. "Of course I lied! Look at the way you're all reacting! Dean tried to murder the poor guy and you're having a freaking coronary!" The anger that had been building up all night had reached its boiling point now. "I know that we're not like most families and I'm not like most girls but for the love of caffeine, will you let me have a life?"

All of Dad's indignation seemed to melt and he sighed. "Annabelle, it's not that I don't trust you. I do. It's that boy I don't trust."

"Now, _that's _a lie. You know as well as I do that if he tried anything, I'd break his hand before he had the chance! Heck, the other day, Bobby taught me how to kill someone with a carrot!"

Bobby choked slightly on his last bite of pizza. Locking eyes with my dad, he raised a hand in defense. "John, that's not entirely true. I taught her how to kill a _goblin_ with a _chopstick_."

I waved away his comment with my hand. "That's beside the point. The point is, I can more than take care of myself, I'm sixteen and I'm tired of everyone treating me like a fragile teacup just because I'm the only girl in this insane family!" I could tell my dad was prepared to come back with another argument but I didn't want to give him the chance. Turning on my bare heel, I made my way to the back of the room.

I could hear Dean and my dad yelling after me but I ignored them. Our family was so dysfunctional.

Plopping onto my bed, I turned on my stereo, quiet as not to bother our obnoxious neighbors. Tom Petty's greatest hits gradually started to calm my nerves and by the time I'd reached the third track, I heard the front door slam. Lifting my head from the pillow, I considered my options. On one hand, that pizza on the kitchen table had looked mighty tasty. But then again, I wouldn't put it past my dad to try and smoke me out with a fake slamming of the front door and the tantalizing aroma of the pepperoni pizza.

Eventually, my hunger won out and I slowly opened the door to peek into the hall. I could see from where I stood that dad's jacket was missing from the coat rack, along with Dean's. A bit more confident, I opened the door wider and made my way to the kitchen.

It was a trap but not the trap I'd been anticipating.

Bobby was sitting in the kitchen, waiting for me. His hands were folded on the table and I could see from the glint in his eyes that he'd found the whole situation earlier that night amusing. "Hey, Annabelle. Your temper tantrum finished yet?"

I tried to stay angry, narrowing my eyes at him as I moved across the kitchen to pour myself a glass of Pepsi.

Pretending that he didn't notice my obvious hostility, Bobby rolled his beer bottle between his hands. "I told John that you were going to be a handful when you reached your teen years. Man, I remember how you used to holler when you were a tyke. Would even beat up on the boys. After that knuckle sandwich you gave Sam in Kingston, he learned never to try to swipe _your _M&Ms again."

I had to smile at that as I took a small sip of my soda. For a month, back when I was five and Sam was ten, we'd lived in Kingston, Massachusetts in a crappy hole in the wall motel. By the end of the first week, Sam and I had had been crawling up the wall, terrorizing Dean and Dad, on the rare occasions that he was actually there. That was back when we'd first met Bobby, who wasn't actually my biological uncle. He'd saved Dad's ass on that hunt.

"Looking a little nostalgic, there. Mind telling me what you're thinking about?" Bobby had stopped fiddling with his beer and was no staring intently up at me.

I wiped the smile off my face before chugging the remainder of my soda and slamming the empty cup back down on the kitchen counter. "Not particularly."

There was a long silence. I poured another cup of Pepsi before Bobby spoke again. "You can't stop them from worrying, Annabelle. Your dad sees some crazy stuff every day and he will always worry about your safety. Now, what exactly happened tonight?"

I traced the rim of the plastic cup with the tip of my index finger, watching the bubbles rise to the surface. "Lukas asked me to be his girlfriend a few weeks ago. All of my study dates were actually _date _dates."

Bobby nodded. "I figured as much." He seemed to note the terror in my eyes and offered a kind smile. "Don't worry. I kept my suspicions to myself. Go on." He took a swig of his beer and kept his eyes on me.

"So, tonight we went to get burgers and after that, Lukas suggested we take a walk in the park. I thought it was really romantic so I agreed." I finally sat down at the kitchen table and took a slice of pizza. "Anyway, we were in the park, walking, when it started to get really cold so he lent me his jacket."

"Chivalry noted."

I made a face at Bobby before continuing. "We sat down on that bench underneath the weeping willow and that's when he leaned in to kiss me. Kiss me! I'm sixteen but you know what? That was my first kiss and it was fantastic! We're talking fireworks, angels singing, the works."

"But?" Bobby prompted.

"But after a few seconds, I thought I heard a shotgun being cocked. It jolted me a little so I jumped up. Lukas did too but the minute he was standing," I mimicked shooting a gun with my hands. "Boom. I mean, I guess I was lucky Dean was hunting a vengeful spirit. So the rounds were rock salt. But still! I bet it had to sting like a mother."

Bobby grinned and nodded. "Where did he hit him?"

I could feel the color drain from my face. "You _so _don't want to know the answer to that."

Upon hearing this, Bobby nearly lost his mouthful of beer all over the kitchen table. "You're kidding."

"Bobby, if I've already convinced you that Dean did, in fact, shoot my boyfriend, does that _really _surprise you?"

I had never seen Bobby laugh so hard. Big hearty chuckles filled the room as tears rolled down his cheeks and he slapped on his leg. "Whoo, girl. That poor guy had no idea what he was getting himself into, did he?"

Giving him a look of utter exasperation, I folded my arms across my chest. "I'm really glad this is amusing you. _I_, on the other hand, will never be asked out on a date again!"

Nodding, Bobby wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "I'm sorry, Annabelle. Lost my head there for a moment, I'm afraid." He straightened his old ratty trucker cap and coughed to mask the last of his laughter. "So, what happened after the poor kid hit the ground?"

"I knew automatically it was Dean. Just the way it happened. Plus, I could smell salt and it's not like rock salt bullets are common. Before I even had a chance to scream bloody murder, he was out from behind the tree, looking like wanted to kill Lukas! I got between them and punched Dean in the face but I think his adrenaline was running the show at that point. He was so frustrated, that he just picked me up, tossed me over his shoulder and carried me to the car."

Bobby gave me a look of bewilderment. "Well, what was Lukas doing?"

I finally let myself laugh. "You mean other than blurting out a string of profanities? He assumed I was being kidnapped. Screamed louder – and higher, I might add – then I've ever heard_anyone _scream. 'Help! Help! My girlfriend's being kidnapped!' It was a disaster."

Bobby was laughing again. "Gosh, poor kid. Sounds like one hell of a night. What are you going to tell him tomorrow?"

"No clue," I admitted. "Some nut job kidnapped me, and then brought me safely back to my home without causing me any harm?"

Shaking his head, Bobby stood up and went to the fridge. Without a word, he took out a beer, opened it, and set it down in front of me. "Well, if you're old enough to hunt demons, kiss boys, and keep your brother from killin' 'em – the boys, not the demons – you're old enough to have a beer." He shrugged. "A rite of passage, I guess. Let's just keep it between us, though, shall we?"

I smiled and took a sip. It burned and the taste wasn't entirely pleasant but I felt mature when I drank it, so I took another sip. "Thanks, Bobby."

"And girl?"

"Yeah?" I set the beer back on the table and looked up at him.

"This family may have an issue with communication but they mean well." He returned to focusing on his pizza. It was all I needed to hear, really. He wasn't a man of many words but he always knew the right ones to say.

"Yeah, I know."


	3. Except for Tuesdays

**I wrote this a few weeks ago and forgot about it until someone requested an Annabelle/Sam story. It's short but it should tie you over until I can write a decent chapter for it. This happens right after chapter one and before chapter two.**

* * *

--Except For Tuesdays--

I stared glumly at my bedroom door after her Dean returned to the living room

I stared glumly at my bedroom door after her Dean returned to the living room. Our lunch date had been a pleasant distraction from my troubling thoughts but now, I was alone again and my mood was returning to its downward spiral.

At the pizza parlor, we'd laughed and joked, avoiding any heavy topics. Sam hadn't even been brought up but I had almost felt his presence there, a painful reminder of things better left forgotten. It wasn't the fact that Sam had gone to college. It was the forgotten birthdays and nonexistent phone calls. The fight Sam had had with dad before leaving, when so many hurtful words had been spoken.

I stared at the phone by my bed. Perhaps, I would call him now. Picking it up, I brushed my fingers against the buttons, considering it. How exactly would that go?

_Hi, Sam. _

_Bell? Is that you? _

_The one and only, unless, of course, you're referring to some other Bell. _

_Cute. Why are you calling? _

_I thought you'd be happy. _

_I am! It's just…does Dad know you're calling?_

_Does it matter? _

_Bell… _

_Do you miss me? _

_Loads. _

_Think of me? _

_Every day. Oh, except for Tuesdays. _

_Shut up! _

_Heh, I think of you every day, kiddo. _

_My birthday is next week, you know. Why don't you come and visit? There'll be cake._

_You know I can't. _

_But – _

_Listen, I gotta jet. Will you be okay? _

_Yeah. Love ya, Sam. _

_Right back at ya, kiddo._

Sighing, I put the phone back in its cradle. Somehow, anticipating the disappointment made it worse. The phone call could wait.


End file.
